Ikea Will Ban All Single-Use Plastic Items From Its Stores And Restaurants By 2020

Ikea said Thursday it will stop selling single-use plastic products in its stores and remove them from its restaurants by 2020.

The Swedish furniture giant said the new policy will apply across all of its stores globally. This means Ikea will be phasing out products like disposable plastic straws, plates and garbage bags, and that customers will soon need to eat the company’s famous meatballs without plastic cutlery or plates.

The move is part of a larger sustainability initiative by Ikea. The company said it wants to become “planet positive” by 2030, and aims to purchase 100% renewable energy by 2020, achieve zero emissions on deliveries by 2025 and start using only renewable and recycled materials in its products.

“Through our size and reach we have the opportunity to inspire and enable more than one billion people to live better lives, within the limits of the planet,” Inter IKEA Group CEO, Torbjörn Lööf, said in a statement.

Ikea has previously invested about $2 billion into renewable energy, according to CNN Money, installing 750,000 solar panels on its buildings and building 416 wind turbines.

As the problem of plastic waste around the world has gotten worse, many countries and companies have begun to ban single-use plastic items. Ikea’s decision comes shortly after the European Union announced last week its plan to ban single-use plastic items such as drink stirrers, cutlery and straws. However, there has also been pushback on the bans from some in the disability community, as plastic straws can be a necessity for many disabled people to drink independently.

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